


If you go down to the woods today...

by nomoreuturns



Series: Tales from Whitestone [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, an incident of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 05:05:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14229903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nomoreuturns/pseuds/nomoreuturns
Summary: Elaina is three, and Trinket is Whitestone’s best babysitter.





	If you go down to the woods today...

“Trinket.”

Trinket kept his eyes closed. He was napping. It was naptime. He’d eaten all of the fish for lunch and he was digesting. Digesting meant napping in the sunshine.

“Triiiiinket.”

Trinket huffed, ducking his head and curled in a little tighter. A mistake: Elaina knew he was awake now. She knelt down at his side and kissed him on the face. _Mwah, mwah, mwah._ Lots of kisses, across his forehead and cheeks and ears.

“I’m _bored_ , Trinket. Let’s go for a walk!”

Trinket lifted his head and looked at Vex’s cub. Elaina was little, Pike-sized, with dark hair like Vex. She smelled like Vex, and Percy, and dirt, and books, and honey. She reached out and took his face with her hands.

“Trinket,” she said seriously, looking him in the eyes. “I want to go for a walk around. Come with me, please, I love you.”

Trinket let out a heavy sigh. _I love you too._ He got his paws under him and slowly began to stand up. _Bye, nap_. Elaina clapped her hands and cheered and scrambled to her feet. She slung her little arm over his neck as far as she could — it wasn’t far — and tangled her fingers in his fur.

“Let’s go, Trink,” Elaina said, pulling on her handful of fur. It didn’t hurt: Elaina wasn’t very strong, and Vex had taught her how to be gentle from the beginning, the same way she had taught Trinket to be gentle when he was a cub. It was insistent, though, and Trinket found himself moving along with her. It was kinda like when Elaina had started learning to walk, holding onto his fur as she shuffled along, swaying on her tiny feet.

Trinket kept pace with Elaina as she made her way around the side of the house. He thought they were going to go inside, maybe slide on the smooth wooden floors, but Elaina led the way towards the front of the estate. They stepped onto the cobbled pathway from the front of the house to the gate and began to follow it up to the boundary fence. The closer they got to the gate, the more nervous Trinket felt, until eventually they were standing right in front of the gate.

“Lie down, Trinket, please, I need to reach now,” Elaina said, pointing to the latch of the gate just out of her reach. She sounded very much like Percy.

Trinket let out a dubious rumble. _I don’t think Vex would like it if we went out._ Elaina giggled.

“Don’t be a silly bear, ‘s OK!”

Trinket thought about it. It was his job to watch Elaina when Vex and Percy asked him to, and even when they didn’t ask him to. He wasn’t looking after her today, the housekeeper was, but Vex had let him stay here with Elaina rather than taking him to talk to the stuffy elves. He didn’t think he should help Elaina open the gate, not if she couldn’t open it herself. He sat down, out of reach of the gate, and looked at her.

Elaina looked at him pleadingly for a long moment, then let out a big huffing sigh. “ _Fiiiiine_ , I can do it.” She began to scrabble up the gate, little fingers and toes finding places to grip, and before Trinket could do anything, she had reached the latch and was unhooking it. The gate creaked open and Elaina dropped lightly to the ground, landing in a crouch before standing up and flashing Trinket a smile, winking like Vex.

“Let’s go!” she said, pushing open the gate and dancing out into the street. Trinket got to his feet, but hesitated before he crossed the threshold. Elaina tilted her head, then walked back and lay a hand on his shoulder. “It’s OK, buddy. It’s all right. Come on, we can do it.” He nudged her gently with his nose, and she giggled and patted him one two three, then stepped out into the street again. Trinket followed.

They headed west along the street. It was quiet, people eating in their homes or out doing people things. Elaina was singing to herself under her breath, her fingers running over Trinket’s fur every so often. She was walking carefully along one of the lines of newer cobblestones in the road that marked where Percy had put down the hot pipes.

They crossed the first street and came to the point where the pipes crossed. Elaina stuttered to a halt, hummed to herself a little, then started pointing at the three pipelines leading left, ahead, and right.

“Eeney meeney miney mo, catch a druid Minxie toe, if she growly let her go, eeney meeney miney...mo.” Elaina’s finger came to a stop, pointing at the road ahead, and so they continued on.

They came to the next street, and Trinket could see a group of people standing on the corner, talking. They didn’t seem to notice Trinket and Elaina as they walked up.

“Hi!” Elaina said cheerfully, waving to the people. The talking stopped. Trinket sighed.

There was a moment of quiet, then one of the people, a human woman, walked over to them.

“Um...Lady Elaina. Master Trinket. Is...is everything all right?” she asked. The woman was younger than Vex, with black hair and brown skin and green eyes. She smelled like ale and food, and cleaning herbs and sawdust. Trinket remembered her from the tavern...Sheila, maybe?

“We’re going to see Mama,” Elaina lied cheerfully. Trinket’s nose twitched. He knew she was lying, but the woman probably didn’t know.

“Do you...uh. Do you know where she is?” Sheila asked. She sounded concerned, but like she believed Elaina, or was willing to believe her.

“No,” Elaina said. True. “Trinket does.” Mostly true: Vex had said something about somewhere in the castle, and Trinket could easily track her. “He’s taking me.” Lie. This was all Elaina’s idea, Trinket was just keeping an eye on her.

“Well...I...” Sheila looked at the people she had been talking to, a dwarf woman and a halfling woman and a half-elf man and a tiefling person. They were standing way back, where they had been talking. Trinket could smell road-dust, and see packs on their backs. Travelers. New. They smelled scared.

“They’re scared,” Elaina said soberly. Sheila nodded.

“Yes, I think they are,” she said. “It...I think it might be Master Trinket.” Elaina shot her a dubious look. Sheila shrugged. “Well, he is rather big, Lady Elaina.” Elaina turned back to Trinket, looking him over.

“Yeah, I guess,” she said finally. “Hey, Trink, wave to them?” Trinket whuffed at her. “Please?” Trinket looked at her steadily for a moment, then sat back on his haunches and waved at the group. The halfling woman and the tiefling person waved back slowly.

“So, you’re going to the castle now, my lady?” Sheila asked. Elaina wrinkled her nose, then nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s go, Trinket!” And they turned right and began making their way up the street towards the big hill up to the castle. “Bye!” Elaina sang as they passed the adventurers.

“Uh...bye,” said the halfling woman, and the tiefling person waved again as their party moved over to continue speaking with Sheila.

“Trinket,” Elaina said once they were halfway down the block, “people are _so annoying_.”

Trinket whuffed. _Tell me about it._

“How we gonna get to the woods if we gotta go to the _castle_?”

Trinket stopped. Elaina kept walking.

“We gotta...oh, hey,” and Elaina stopped and scampered back to where Trinket was standing. “‘S OK, Trinket, we’re not gonna go _far_. Just under the trees a bit.” She rubbed behind his ears. “Promise, Trinket.”

Trinket eyed her for a moment, then sniffed at her. She smelled like she meant it, and she sounded like she meant it. He nudged her gently, and she giggled and hugged him around the head. He raised his head, lifting Elaina off her feet, and she squealed and wriggled until he put his head down and waited while she got her feet under her.

“OK, let’s go, Trinket,” Elaina said, rubbing him on the nose. They walked up along the street towards the castle for another two blocks, until the street veered to the left and Sheila was out of sight, then Elaina chirped “This way!” and turned right onto another street, the one that led towards the Greyfields.

“We can go to the woods beside the Zenith, Trinket!” she explained as they neared the gate in the wall. “There’s nice trees out there!”

There were loud, angry voices at the gate, and Trinket could see the guards were both standing on one side of the road, in front of an elf man in yellow robes with a small hand-cart. Trinket nudged Elaina until she was standing on his far side, away from the arguing people, and they carefully walked through the gate.

One of the guards looked over, but didn’t notice Elaina, huddled on Trinket’s other side. Trinket gave a cheerful whuff to the guard, Ned, who nodded back to him. The elf man glanced around, saw Trinket, and shrieked.

“What in the blessed name of the Dawnfather is a _bear_ doing in the city?” he yelped, backing away.

“That would be Master Trinket, my lord,” said Ned, his voice bright. “He’s the companion of Lady Vex’ahlia de Rolo, Champion of the Dawnfather.”

As Trinket and Elaina veered towards the woods, Trinket heard Alinta, the other guard, say innocently, “I trust you’re not reconsidering your placement, my lord?” Elaina buried her face in Trinket’s side, and Trinket could hear the stifled giggles buzzing against his fur.

A few minutes later they were in the trees, and Elaina jumped away from Trinket.

“Come on, Trink!” she said. “There’s a nice spot over here!” And she darted off, further into the woods. Trinket followed, and after minute or so they found a small, clear space amongst the trees. A couple of white flowers marked the far edge of the clearing, leading deeper into the forest.

“Isn’t it pretty, Trinket?” Elaina asked, twirling in the dappled light.

It was pretty. Nice big trees for shade and shelter, and one with nice rough bark perfect for back-scratching. Trinket scratched his back against the tree, then settled down at its base, watching as Elaina scampered around the clearing, poking at a fallen log and foraging for interesting things.

Time passed, and Trinket half-dozed, listening for threats in the distance as he watched Elaina chatter to herself and draw something on the ground with a stick. There was a faint breeze stirring the leaves on the trees, and birds were singing. Trinket could hear a stream nearby, so there was water if they got thirsty, but...

Across the clearing, Elaina’s tummy grumbled. “Oh man, oh man, I’m so hungry, Trinket,” she said, trotting over to him. She slumped against his side and groaned. “We shoulda gone to the Cake.”

Trinket lifted his head and sniffed. There weren’t any berries around — or none that Elaina would be able to eat without getting an upset tummy — but the scent of honey lingered in the air, thick and golden. Elaina had smelled of honey earlier, and Trinket realized the scent hadn’t faded as they walked: it had come along with them. Trinket snuffled at Elaina, ignoring her giggles of “tickles, Trink” and zeroing in on the pockets on her smock. He rumbled at her and nudged her pocket gently.

“I don’t...oh! I forgot!” Elaina shoved a hand into her pocket and pulled out a squashed, linen-covered bundle. She unfolded it with a flourish and presented the contents to Trinket. “Look, buddy!”

In the middle of the cloth was a cluster of squished Sun Treats, maybe enough for a nice mouthful or two for Trinket, or a good snack for Elaina. He eyed it, then nudged it gently towards Elaina. Elaina grinned at him.

“Don’t worry, Trinket, these are yours! I got some for me, ‘s OK.” She patted her other pocket. “Here, let’s sit down and snack, yeah?”

Trinket flopped to the ground and let Elaina set the Sun Treats on the ground before him. He waited patiently until she was sitting and had opened her own bundle of Sun Treats before he began to dig in. They sat eating their cookies together, Elaina humming occasionally and kicking her feet against the ground.

There was a fluttering sound in the tree beside them, and a loud caw rang out through the clearing. Trinket looked up and saw a big black bird settle itself on the branches, its bright eyes peering down at them.

“Hi birdie!” Elaina said, waving.

The raven fluttered down to the ground at the base of the tree, shook out its wings, and cawed again. Trinket watched it warily, but Elaina laughed and croaked back, bouncing up and down and shaking her arms at her sides. The raven cocked its head and hopped a few feet closer, then a few more. Trinket glared at it, his lips pulling away from his teeth and a faint rumble vibrating in his throat.

Birds and other flying things didn’t really bother him, unless they were scary or tried to hurt Vex. He couldn’t catch birds very well, and they weren’t the best eating unless Vex had prepared them for him. They sounded nice enough when they sang, though, and they were useful for knowing when there were threats around. Trinket didn’t mind birds.

Ravens were different. Vex talked to ravens sometimes, and she was usually sad or disappointed afterwards. The big raven lady took Vax away, which made Vex really sad, and Keyleth really sad, and everyone really sad. Trinket hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to Vax before the raven lady took him.

Trinket didn’t like ravens.

“Trinket, _rude_ ,” Elaina said, her voice soft. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked confused and a little worried. She wasn’t smiling anymore. He stopped the growl and butted her with his head, nudging her back from the raven. She patted at his muzzle.

“Oh buddy, ‘s OK. Is just a birdie.”

Trinket looked back at the raven. It was watching Elaina, its head cocked, bright eyes shining. He whuffed at it, and when it looked at him, he bared his teeth in silent warning.

_I will end you._

It stared at him for a moment, then ruffled its feathers, croaked, and took to the sky.

“Bye, birdie!” Elaina sang, waving after it. “Say bye-bye, Trinket!”

 _Bye-bye, birdie,_ thought Trinket. _Go fuck yourself._ He wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but he knew it was a good thing to say to someone you didn’t like. He learned it from Vax and Vex.

“Trinket, that—” Elaina broke off to yawn suddenly “—was _mean_.” She yawned again, then huffed. “Man, Trinket, I’m so tired now. Shall we go home?”

Trinket whuffed in agreement. He started to get to his feet, then stopped.

“Wha’s it, Trink?” Elaina asked. “You OK?”

Trinket rumbled at her, nudging her gently with his nose and then flicking his head towards his back. _Do you want to ride back?_

“Oh hey, ride!” she said agreeably, and clambered up onto his back. Once she was settled and hanging on securely, arms wrapped around his neck, Trinket got all the way to his feet and began to head back out of the trees. As they passed into the full sunlight, Trinket felt Elaina’s head drop down to rest against his back, and her arms tightened a little.

“Thank you for coming with me, Trinket,” she said drowsily as they neared the wall. “You’re the best bear. I love you.”

 _I love you, too_.

*

__

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine Sun Treats being a sort of thumbprint cookie based on a melomakarona (Greek honey biscuits/cookies). I envision them being sun shaped, with a dollop of creamed honey or lemon curd in the centre. Not too unhealthy for a bear!
> 
> I also imagine Trinket picking up various habits from his mother and uncle. Mainly I just find the idea of a bear telling other creatures ot go fuck themselves hilarious.


End file.
